A/N: Well here we are again, Chapter 12. And OMG, I can't believe its gotten this far along already! I'm so proud of my little story, I've grown to enjoy it quite a bit as I write it. I can picture everything in my head as it plays out, like a movie. :) I hope all of you are enjoying reading this as well. I would love for comments/reviews/helpful suggestions, anything! Reading your lovely reviews helps me to get up inspiration to write further! Makes me feel happy to get up in the morning before work and read a new comment that had been given the nite before. Well anyway, long time between updates sadly. You can blame my lack of skill in writing fight scenes, and my indecision on how to let certain events play out. Turns out, the chapter pretty much wrote itself, as what happens with most of what I write, strangely enough. Does that happen to anyone else? Or am I just weird? Lol. And if you've taken a peek at my profile lately you'll see that I've mentioned that I'm currently working on another project ( I know shame on me!) that will be a sort of prequel spin off to this one. You can blame this on a Hunter friend of mine who proudly showed off his newly tamed pet and sparked a chain reaction in my mind...But more on that later. Read onward!
Chapter 12: What happens In the Forest, Stays In the Forest
Previously in Beyond the Four Winds:
"Aunt Ver? What's wrong?" Her voice didn't mean to come out so quivery, but she was more nervous than she thought. Her aunt frowned, lips pursed, eyeing the nearby brush and trees.
"Something doesn't feel right. I sense danger, a threat." She muttered the words without glancing away from the surrounding wilderness. Anaiya instantly scanned the area as well, but her inexperienced eye noticed only gently rolling hills of white and snow laden trees. No wait, that tree branch moved!
She squinted her eyes, and noticed that a small patch of the nearest evergreen tree was a different green than the rest. This patch was a light, almost spectral green, translucent with a sort of odd gleam. Anaiya gasped and meant to point this out to her aunt, but at that moment, all hell broke loose. The trees that had been quiet and still suddenly burst into a flurry of flying snow and large spectral green beasts.
Anaiya shrank back against the rocky mountain they had just emerged from. From behind her she heard a low snarl, and whirled around so fast she fell in the heavy snow, landing on her back. Staring down at her from a jagged outcropping of stone that protruded above the tunnel exit was a large spectral green lynx. Anaiya gasped in alarm.
The green beasts that had burst out of trees, which Anaiya realized with a dazed sense of dread, were owls, gave unearthly keening shrieks and descended upon the party with a vengeance. From above her, the lynx crouched, tail lashing, into a pouncing position, its emerald eyes fixed on her.
Now:
"Damn it!" Anaiya spared a glance to the side, not wanting to risk more than that when in the eyes of the predator crouched before. To her dismay she saw Key go deathly pale and clutch at his side before falling into the snow nearby.
Behind her she could hear sounds of battle and assumed that her aunt had attacked the descending birds. Wide-eyed, Shana quickly grabbed Bessany by the hand and scurried over to the Paladin's side. Which left Anaiya alone, facing the emerald feline.
Now that her attention was back on the predator, she took notice of angry streaks of darker green that swirled through the lighter green fur. The darker streaks looked like a sickness or a malignant rash that flickered and undulated along the lynx's body. She also noted the rippling muscles as it tensed, and gulped in fright. But by the Nether she would fight the beast with everything she had, till the very end if she had to.
She had no idea why the creatures were attacking them unprovoked, unless it had something to do with their quest. The vivid green coloring of the creatures also confirmed this suspicion, and she was only sad that the Nightmare had seemingly twisted these once proud and beautiful beasts to its evil design.
Very carefully and with subtle movements, Anaiya shrugged her backpack off her shoulders and let it fall softly to the snow behind her, never taking her eyes off the lynx. It's swirling green eyes followed the backpack's movement, obviously aware of her every move with its sensitive eyesight.
Swallowing down her fear and panic, knowing everyone else was preoccupied and wouldn't be able to help her in time, Anaiya gripped her oaken staff, slowly pulling it crosswise in front of her body like she had been told to do in training, protecting her vulnerable front while making her a tougher target to attack, and also bringing the formidable weapon into a more manageable position.
There are only so many positions one can hold a staff and use it effectively. Of course, having never left Teldrassil, she was wholly unprepared for a real fight with a creature that intended her serious harm. Her palms felt clammy, sweaty and cold at the same time, and she had to fight the absurd urge to take off her gloves and wipe her hands on her breeches.
Without a warning, in the space of an eye blink, the large cat was on her, driving all 40-50 pounds of solid killing machine straight at her.
With no warning, Anaiya could only brace herself for the impact and at the last moment pivoted her right foot slightly behind her so she would have better balance to steady herself. As it was, the great cat's weight sent her to the ground on her back, with it sitting on top of her.
It wasted no time, going for her face with one large clawed paw. Startling a scream out of her by reflex, the cat barely missed clawing her face off. Instead it rent grooves in her staff, which she then used to push the cat back off her chest, using the leverage of the long weapon and bracing her weight against the ground. She pushed upward and then jerking her arms sideways, along with the staff, shoving the cat unceremoniously into the snowdrift beside her.
Breathing heavily and shakily, she quickly scrambled backwards, falling in the snow and trying desperately to put distance between herself and the cat. A mangled owl thudded to the ground at her feet, sending up a small puff of snow dust.
The air had quickly become infused with the scent of death and blood, and slightly steaming bodies of owls now littered the small clearing in front of the Firbolg pass. Although Ver and Umber quickly dispatched their foes with ease and efficiency that suggested great skill and stamina, more owls appeared in the sky, almost blocking out the light.
The beating of wings almost drowned out the angry snarls and yips that the shifted druid was making, or the slight clang and hiss of Umber's poisoned daggers. The scene was so surreal and overwhelming that Anaiya could not hold back a sob of sheer frustration.
The lynx, ever quick on its feet as befitting its species, was now circling her, hate filled eyes fixed firmly on its target.
"Why! Why are you doing this! I just want to help that dragon! This has nothing to do with the Nightmare or who controls it!"
Her scream of rage had no effect on the feline, ears pinned to skull and mouth open slightly, displaying two long fangs and a jagged row of shorter, equally sharp teeth. Anaiya knew that the last time the lynx lunged at her, she had been extremely lucky, but this time it was more prepared and it now knew that the stick she carried was a weapon.
She didn't like the way it eyes the staff with a considering look not at all at home on its feline features. That look suggested at intelligence, cunning. She heard a cry of pain behind her, but didn't dare take her eyes off the cat, and just hoped everyone was okay.
The lynx paused in its pacing, bunching muscles. Anaiya braced herself again, desperately trying to think of a spell, anything, that would help keep the cat off of her until someone could come to her rescue.
Right at that moment in time she felt as useless as a newborn elfling, and vowed to herself that if she survived this, she would seek training from her aunt Ver to be a better and stronger druid in combat. A spell came to her scrambled mind at the exact moment that the cat leaped at her. She quickly flung out one hand, the other still firmly holding the staff across her front to protect her.
Leafy tangling vines briefly snaked around the lynx's paws as it lunged, pulling it back down to the snow, before the vines promptly broke, unfortunately lasting mere moments. Anaiya whimpered in frustration.
Now furious, the cat snarled, lips drawing back in a hiss. Having accomplished the goal of keeping the lynx from pouncing on her, Anaiya moved backwards a few steps again, and almost tripped over the body of an owl.
She quickly glanced down as she stumbled, and the cat was on her within an eye blink, scoring deep scratches across her chest that instantly stung. The cat's claws ripped through her leather armor like paper.
She gasped at the sudden sharp pain, instantly casting a simple arcane spell she'd mastered a few months ago; moonfire. The beam of purplish light hit the cat between the eyes, dazing it for a few precious moments.
At that moment, Anaiya became aware of another awareness inside of her, something almost like another being inside her mind. It was such an odd sensation that it gave her pause as she mentally examined this strange occurrence.
The mental 'room' that she sensed this awareness in gave off the impression of warm fur and soft paws. Anaiya was quite confused by this, having never had this feeling before. It was like an itch, an urge to do something, but she didn't know what it was she was doing, or how to do it.
The presence that had made itself known seemed to reassure her and send her calming waves, asking for permission for something. At that moment the cat recovered from its moonfire barrage and sank its teeth into Anaiya's lower arm, right above the wrist.
The pain was immense and startled Anaiya so badly that she 'pushed' her mind into that room just to escape the pain and fear. Suddenly she found herself in a different and altogether most unusual position. Glancing at the lynx, which was now giving her a look of menacing bemusement, she found that her eyesight was level with the cat's.
Her staff lay discarded beside her, and glancing at it brought to her attention the fact that she now had fur, four legs, and a tail. Alarmed by this, the yelped, which sounded more like a tiny meow.
"By Elune's light, I shape shifted!" Anaiya exclaimed.
Of course what came out of her mouth was a series of meows and hisses. The presence she had felt right before her remarkable transformation, which she now understood was the feline aspect of her inner nature, enveloped her mind in the instinct of a panther, and she surrendered herself to that calming influence, knowing the feline's instinctive nature had far more grace and agility without her own elfin influence hindering it.
Without thinking, she lashed out with her front paws, dealing a hefty swipe at the lynx. The other cat darted backward, but not before Anaiya ripped a chunk of flesh off its muzzle. The lynx gave her an appraising look, reassessing the threat, before slinking back slightly.
It now bore a wary, unsure expression, having been sure of an easy victory against an untrained, inexperienced elf maiden. Anaiya was still a bit dazed herself from her sudden transformation, and her mind was almost overwhelmed by the sensory input she was getting from her new form's superior senses.
Part of her mind was analyzing the threat in front of her, while aware of the continued battle behind, the cold of the snow, a far off song bird, and the occasional thud of snow settling further up the mountain.
The other part of her mind was thoroughly shocked by this new development, was stressed over her friend's endangerment, was worried about her aunt, and was most of all, fearful about the consequences of shape shifting accidentally without any knowledge of how to regain her true form. She hoped that when the battle was over her aunt would be able to help her find her way back to her true form again.
Suddenly the cat winked out of existence, and Anaiya gasped, cat eyes glancing around. Where did it go? Nervously she began to shift around, scanning the area. To her relief she noticed that her aunt and Umber had nearly killed all the owls, only a few stragglers left to contend with. From where she was she couldn't make out if they had sustained any injuries but she didn't think so from their movements.
This made her realized that while she was distracted with the lynx and her own first shapeshift, the lynx had cut her off from the rest of her comrades and had driven her slightly off to the side away from the main path.
That she hadn't even noticed this until now said much for her state of mind. Anaiya tried working her way through the snow to get nearer the rest of her party but the lynx, anticipating such a move, darted in front of her with a vicious snarl and a quick paw swipe.
Anaiya gasped and jumped back slightly to avoid being hit by the cat's large claws. Her own confusion and clumsiness in this new form was beginning to overcome the cat form's own instincts and she felt herself slowing.
She was quickly tiring of this cat and mouse game the lynx had going with her. With a determined roar of her own, she pounced at the lynx, but misjudged the distance. She landed a foot short of the lynx, when she had meant to land on the creature's back.
The other cat hissed and closed in, using claws and fangs to do whatever it could to finish Anaiya off. She managed to rake her front claws down the shoulder of the green cat, which unfortunately made it crazed with pain and frustration at not being able to kill her.
It turned, impossibly quickly, and within moments had Anaiya's shifted form pinned to the ground, paws pushing down on her chest as she was crushed relentlessly into the trodden snow. She tried everything she could to wriggle out of the other feline's grip, but the cat's claws were digging deep into her fur and the icy cold snow was beginning to make her back and paws turn numb with frostbite.
Staring up into the vacant, maddened eyes of the green cat, Anaiya felt a forlorn sense of lost hope, of lost dreams, as she faced her imminent death.
She'd tried her hardest but it didn't seem to be enough. She had such expectations on this quest, such dreams of becoming renowned for the youngest druid to complete such a dangerous and risky venture.
She wanted to make her mother proud of her choice to become a Druid, to show all the elders of Darnassus that she actually was worth something, that she had helped free a trapped dragon! Had seen places that many of them had never even heard of.
It wasn't supposed to end like this, in some desolate and random snow-clad forest far from home. Would anyone miss her? Would anyone even notice she had gone?
As the green feline's glinting cold eyes gazed down at her from its victory perch, Anaiya felt herself slump back, going limp with resignation. The feline snarled, and lowered its great furred head, presumably going for the throat for a killing bite, mouth opened eagerly.
Then suddenly the cat wasn't there. Anaiya blinked in shock for a few moments, unable to comprehend how she wasn't somehow dying of a torn open throat. It occurred to her quite suddenly that there was no weight on top of her.
Quickly she jumped back to all four paws, crouching defensively with belly to the ground to make herself as small a target as possible. She had no idea why the cat had just suddenly left off attacking her. She gasped.
Right in front of her she watched with amazement as the Paladin slammed his shield into the green lynx's face, stunning the feral cat and knocking back several paces. Snow flew in a powdery flurry as the cat lashed out angrily in a blind reflexive fashion, as if dazed and unsure of its bearings.
With awe, Anaiya watched open mouthed as Key, who had apparently appeared at the last moment and saved her life, rushed forward toward the lynx, laying at it with his large bejeweled sword.
The cat, which was fairly large, coming just below the Paladin's waist, made a valiant effort at winning back the upper hand, but unlike Anaiya, Key was no inexperienced naive little elf maiden and it showed in his attacks.
He skillfully dodged every lunge, swipe, rake or snapping of fangs that the cat used. Having been already slightly wounded and tired from its fight with Anaiya, the cat was leery of engaging this new foe head on, and used its feline speed and agility to dodge almost all of Key's sword strokes, diving under his sword whenever possible for an attempt to injure him in any way.
Unfortunately for the lynx, claws did very little damage to full plate armor, and again and again the cat was driven back to its previous position. Anaiya watched this grim dance with an open mouth, having never seen anyone fight before other than her aunt's play fighting with Umber. Speaking of her aunt! Anaiya swiftly swung her head in the direction she'd last seen her aunt, low slung furry ears twitching forward as well.
She had yet to master the art of using her eyes and ears independent of each other while in this new form. With the strange new eyesight of the feline shape she'd assumed, she watched her aunt and Umber finish off the last of the frenzied owls.
Her aunt, still in cat form herself, appeared to be panting from exhaustion and favoring a front paw. Umber was bending down near here, inspecting the paw. Relieved that they seemed to have survived the fight at least, Anaiya shook her head in a pleased fashion.
Of its own volition, her long snake like tail started dancing back and forth behind her, which served to distract her for a few seconds before she was able to override the feline urge and again turned her eyes to look for Bessany and Shana.
She found both of them huddled by the exit of the Firbolg tunnel. Shana was wrapping some linen around Bessany's left arm, where Anaiya noticed the sleeve was torn and somewhat bloodied.
'They must not want to waste their magical reserve in case of more serious injuries,' Anaiya thought while watching the two.
The lynx roared, a snarling scream of frustrated rage, and Anaiya focused back on the cat. Apparently vexed that it was being kept from its target; namely Anaiya, the feline was trying its utmost to dispatch the paladin as quickly as possible.
But key, being a fighter of some skill, and able to take heavy hits due to his plate armor and large shield, was keeping the large cat at bay, warding off its claws and fangs with apparent ease that made Anaiya envious.
The cat leaped upon Key's shield, perhaps feeling that would help bring the battle into its favor. Indeed, Key was startled by the cat's leap, and dropped his shield when the full weight of the feline settled on the large disc in his off hand.
The lynx gave a growl of delight, and proceeded to attack Key in close. He began to have a harder time keeping the lynx at bay without his shield, and gained a few deep lacerations for his efforts. Anaiya slunk up behind the cat while it was distracted and raised her paws.
Her sharp panther claws withdrew from their sheaths, and following the guidance of her feline instincts, turned her paws at just such an angle that she was able to rake the back and haunches of the lynx, shredding the end of its tail for good measure.
The lynx screamed in pain and fury, spinning around surprisingly quick and backhanding Anaiya across the muzzle with a powerful paw swipe that she didn't even see coming. She fell back, dizzy and in pain.
Seeing the distraction as a great opening, Key lunged forward, sword leading, and cleaved the lynx almost in two while its attention was diverted by Anaiya's helpless form once again. As the now dead cat, clouding eyes staring unblinkingly up at the druid, fell to the snow, Anaiya let out a loud rush of air.
So relieved was she that it was over that she felt too weak to stand. Or maybe that was her wounds? That last swipe she'd been dealt was making thinking hard. She shook her head, but instantly regretted it when the trees swam around her.
Shutting her eyes also didn't help, just magnified the feeling of vertigo and the throbbing pain in various parts of her body. And she was beginning to feel the effects of the cold on her paws and the tip of her ears. Shadow loomed across her face, and she flinched back before recognizing the paladin. He hunkered down in front of her and patted her on the head, then felt several wounds along her side.
"Anaiya? That is you right? Are you ok darlin'? You can change back now. I'm impressed, I had the impression you were too young and inexperienced to know how to shapeshift yet." The pretty blood elf grinned at her, pride and desire clear in his eyes.
Anaiya would have scowled had she the facial muscles to do so. As it was, she rolled her golden kitty eyes at him. Shoving her questing nose at the paladin, she sniffed him over herself, making sure he wasn't unduly injured by coming to her rescue.
Make no mistake, she was incredibly grateful that he'd come to her aid, but darn it, that just made her feel more useless and ineffective. She couldn't even defend herself against a wild animal. Albeit a large wild animal. A large, cunning wild animal.
Thinking that made her feel better. After all this was the first time she'd participated in a fight. She padded back through the uneven, dirtied snow back to the others, who were now grouped up around the Tauren and Forsaken priestess.
A soft golden light seemed to shimmer gently around Shana as she waved her hands in a familiar, unhesitant manner. Her hands, glowing the same warm gold color, moved to cover a deep bleeding gash in Umber's forehead. Her hand covered the wound, where she rested it there for a moment. When she removed her hand, the wound was mostly gone, nothing but a slightly reddened line remained.
The blood of course, was still there. Verfanas leaned over and gave her human lover an affectionate hug, relief at his good health evident on her features.
Verfanas herself, now fully back in her original, Night Elven form, was relatively unscathed, having been skilled in paw fighting as a panther, and was able to keep most of the winged fiends away from her unprotected body.
Key passed Anaiya's furred form and walked over to Shana. The priestess gave him a concerned look, feeling his forehead and muttering some words. Her hands then glowed the same telltale gold and she covered each of his wounds. Immediately he perked up, giving Shana a grateful nod in return.
Finished with their own troubles, everyone's eyes naturally swiveled to settle on Anaiya, who sat in the snow, tail twitching back and forth seemingly of its own accord. For some unnerving reason, Anaiya found her tail to be of great fascination, and felt that she could watch it dart to and fro for hours. Best not mention that sort of thing in polite conversation.
"Anaiya?" Her aunt questioned, bringing Anaiya's bright yellow eyes up to stare at the older druid. Verfanas cocked her head, then sighed.
"This was an accident wasn't it? Your shape shifting."
Anaiya tried nodding her head, but only came up with a swaying, bobbing movement that she hoped conveyed what she'd meant. It was becoming somewhat harder to control this new body now that she wasn't relying completely on the cat's sense of self preservation to guide her.
Now the cat part of her mind, that feline drive, was slumbering at the back of her mind, and she was becoming a bit worried. Her aunt sighed again.
"Well, I can't say as I'm surprised. After all, my first shift was an accident as well." She chuckled at some memory. "I can tell you, I didn't take it as calmly as you are, that's for sure."
She walked over and settled herself down in front of Anaiya's bewhiskered face.
"Okay, first thing. Take a deep breath and relax. Being a cat is a natural and wondrous thing for a druid. Its what we were born to do. it's a calling in our blood. Understand?"
Anaiya settled down, drawing inward to release as much of her tension as she could. Slowly, ever so slowly, she felt her muscles slacken and relax. It made her feel different, more sleek and agile, more confident in her fur.
Apparently this was translated in her body language, at least for Ver to read, as the other druid grinned and nodded.
"That's right, just relax, keep your mind at ease, free of any worries. You're safe now. Now comes the hard part, which is actually getting yourself to believe that you can shapeshift, can change from one form to another. Its easy enough the first time, especially if by accident, because of that magical, inner voice that urges you on."
"But to go from cat to elf again, that requires mostly you, you and your inner determination to be yourself again. Some druids never come back from their first shift, forever frozen in the bodies of cats or bears or birds. But I know you Anaiya. You're brave, determined, gentle and compassionate. I know you have the strength of will to find yourself again."
As she was saying this, in a soft soothing voice, Anaiya was feeling a sense of strangeness in her very being. A twitch, or a twinge, deep in her very psyche, as if there was something there, something that was growing bigger and stronger by the moment.
As her inner self analyzed this, she realized that it was her humanity, her Elven form, that had grown in her mind's eye as her aunt spoke to her. The image solidified, became more real, and loomed before her inner eye.
Feeling as if this was the right thing to do, she felt her inner self, not surprisingly shaped like a feline, make a dash for the humanoid part of her soul. Both shapes collided, and suddenly Anaiya fell over.
Opening her eyes fully, she felt bereft, exposed, vulnerable. It took a few moments for her to realize why. She was herself again! She reached up and happily pulled strands of thick, familiar green hair in front of her eyes for confirmation.
She grinned and jumped to her feet, wavering slightly at the change in balance and height before ingrained years of walking this way caught up to her and she steadied herself.
"See, I knew you could do it. Now, don't go shifting again until I can give you some lessons on how to do it properly, and how to behave and fight while in that form. But now is not the time." Her aunt impishly hugged her, eyes full of emotion.
Anaiya hissed when her aunt hugged her, bringing back the whole reason she'd shape shifted to begin with. Her injuries, various scratches and claw marks, stung in the harsh winter atmosphere.
She was only glad that somehow, through some magical law, she had retained all her clothing upon shifting back. She had had a brief fear before shifting that she'd end up naked as the day she was born, and just the idea of appearing naked before them all was making her face heat up. Bessany hesitantly approached her, and made a quiet motion toward her more obvious injury, claw marks on her shoulder.
Understanding that the shy Tauren was offering to Heal her, Anaiya gratefully nodded.
She wasn't trained in any healing arts, having focused most of her studies on how to be better at Feral Combat. She was impressed and pleased when the Tauren finished and she felt no more pain in that area but for a small twinge.
Eventually, with time, even that would heal. The Tauren then took to healing the various other injuries covering her body. Once she was finished, the time passed in silence, Bessany stepped back and stood awkwardly next to Shana.
"So…I think we're all in accord with the idea that we put some distance between us and this…mishap, huh?" Verfanas' words interrupted the somewhat stale silence, and everyone eagerly nodded.
Anaiya, most of all. She was still coming to grips with the idea that she had almost died, but for the timely intervention of the Paladin. Which reminded her…she owed him a thank you darn it. How humiliating. Here she'd been avoiding any contact that she could with the Blood Elf, knowing that he fancied her.
As Verfanas and Umber set about inspecting the dead owls and the lynx, trying to see if they could find anything worth salvaging off the beasts, Anaiya breathed out a sigh and mustered up her straining pride. She walked over to the paladin, who had his arms crossed, watching her. As he saw her walking toward him, he smirked.
Although she did notice that he looked somewhat more ill than before, and made a mental note to see if Bessany could perform another Cleanse on him when they reached the nearest town.
"I would like to thank you…" Trailing off as she wondered how to address him, Anaiya frowned. 'Sir Sunblade' sounded too formal for a party member, and honestly she didn't see the idea of giving him more of an ego boost than needed. 'Mister Sunblade' sounded just downright silly. Calling him by his first name sounded too personal and intimate.
She mentally shrugged. "I'd like to thank you for what you did, saving my life. I appreciate it, it wasn't something you had to do. I'm glad that you've apparently recovered from whatever happened before."
She inclined her head in polite gratitude, with the intention of then walking over to talk to her aunt about her experience as a shape shifted cat. Key held out a hand and laid it on her arm as she turned, causing her to freeze in place at the unexpected touch.
She gave him questioning, somewhat uneasy eyes. In her life in Darnassus, she was ashamed to admit that she hadn't had much involvement with the male half of her kind, so was a bit edgy and nervous around them.
"It was my pleasure darlin'. I am sincere in my words when I say that it would be a great shame on the world if you were to pass from it. Your beautiful light gives warmth to the dark places. I would truly like nothing more than to get to know you better." He gave her somber, desire-filled eyes.
Anaiya immediately felt her face heat up. 'omigosh, did he really just say that to me? Me of all people. What do I say back? Ohhh this is so awkward.'
Her moment of indecision was thankfully long enough for the Forsaken priestess to become curious about their quiet exchange and wander over. Now Shana slapped Key on the arm and gave him a yellow eyed glare.
"Come on lovebird, leave the poor girl alone. Can't you see you've shocked her speechless with your pretty little twittering. And when I say shocked speechless, I don't mean in a good way. Lets go or the rest will leave without us fool."
Her harsh words, although uttered in exasperated amusement, served to clear Anaiya's mind, and to her dismay she noticed that Verfanas and Umber were indeed now setting off down the narrow trail that led away from the mountainous pass they had come through.
Now that she could think of what lay ahead, Anaiya was more cautious and serious than before, wanting to know why they had been attacked, and if they should expect another such unprovoked attack anytime soon.
She was sure those crazed animals had something to do with her trinket, she was sure of it. Thinking of the trinket reminded her of its presence, and she moved her hands down to her hip, where the filigreed pouch rested secure, tied to her thick leather belt. She was sure she imagined feeling a throbbing, almost like a heartbeat, start under her fingers as she rested them on the pouch.
But after a few moments, it passed, and she didn't think of it again for some time.
